I Think

But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 1 Samuel 15:9

Sin is disobeying God. It's that simple. Saul was told by God to destroy everything from the nation he conquered. Everything, including the good and the bad, the wanted and the unwanted. But Saul thought it would be good to save the sheep, oxen and lambs because he thought they would make good sacrifices. It was a very rational decision. He spared the animals that would make good offerings. He thought he was doing good. Most of us would think the same. I do what I think is good and my life is suddenly pleasing to God. But it's not that simple. 
  
   Saul was right; the animals would have made good sacrifices but God said to destroy everything. We hang on to things because we think they will be good. We think they'll help us. We try to make the best decision for ourselves based on our knowledge and rationality. But sometimes that's where we go wrong. Saul was completely rational. What he did made sense. But God said "no, I don't want you to do this." What may seem right in the eyes of men, is wrong in the eyes of God. God wasn't disappointed with Saul simply because he spared some animals. God was disappointed because Saul disobeyed Him. Saul ignored the voice of God and chose to go his own way against the calling of God. That was his sin. 
  
    If God is telling you to do something, do it. If He is saying not to do something, don't do it. He knows what He is doing and His knowledge supersedes ours greatly. It's not up to us to rationalize what God is doing, we'll only get confused. It is our job, however, to listen to His still small voice. If He says move, move. If he says stop, then stop. You don't have to rationalize it, just know that God said it. 

    Saul got into trouble because he acted according to what he thought, rather than according to the divine wisdom of God. He thought he was wiser than God. Remember that God's plan is perfect. It may not make sense, but it is perfect. In time, His will will be revealed unto you. Though it may seem difficult and you may not understand, follow Him. You don't need to understand, you just need to trust Him.

  

Defining Beauty

  Today's standard of beauty is clouded. By today's standpoint beauty is defined by how much skin is revealed, how provocative the post or how much likes a picture can get. You're expected to be unnaturally thin based on fashion magazines and catalogs but in fact, those models have been Photoshopped and air-brushed to an almost scary and unnatural size. Their thighs, waist and breasts has been altered to fit a flawed standard. Their eyes have been widened, lips enlarged and faces reduced. Unfortunately this standard of beauty compels many to take up unhealthy lifestyles starving themselves to conform to an image they were created to shun.

   Social media has now been made the center of most of our lives. It's easy to paint a picture of ourselves that isn't even true just to get more likes, more followers or more friends. But in the end, why does that even matter? You're not defined by how many friends you have on Facebook, how many likes your pictures get on Instagram or even how many followers you have on twitter. You don't have to conform to the provocative image most people have given into today. You don't have to paint a picture at all, just be who you are and the right people will come. Even if you have to stand alone for a while, stand up for who you are.

   Everything doesn't have to be seen and everything doesn't have to be revealed. Anything you post on the internet stays there, believe me. That picture that got you so many likes may one day be seen by a future employer, your spouse our even your children. You don't want them to see a picture that you used to paint a story of your life that wasn't even true.

   You have countless cosmetics that are meant to stuff that you don't even understand but all you know is that it will make you beautiful. You don't have to hide behind layers and layers of make-up. People want to see the real you: the beautiful you. Don't mind those who make fun of or criticize you. They don't matter because the right people will appreciate who you are.
  
    You're not defined by social media. You're not defined by those who don't appreciate you. You're not defined by those who encourage you to conform to a flawed standard of beauty. You don't have to show skin to be appreciated. You're a human being not a piece of meat, so don't let anyone treat you like one.

  People need to see you. You are more than your body. People need to see your soul. The world needs to see your smile not your thighs. They need to hear you laugh with joy not cry out with frustration. They need to see your beauty - your true beauty that lies deeper than the surface created by society. 

   Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the beholder is Jesus. He's made you the way he wanted to be from the beginning. You don't have to conform to flawed standards of beauty - you can be yourself.

Where is your mind?

It doesn't really matter whether you're in church or not, if you're mind is far from God, the devil already has you. It's easy to look around and judge and decide on who has backslidden or who isn't living right. As human beings, we have no real difficulty finding fault in others. The real difficulty lies in recognizing our own faults.

We serve God with our mind. The transformation takes place within and is then manifested without. Your dress, your speech and your mannerisms are all a product of the transformation that God has begun within you. So, since we serve God with our mind, that's where the devil wants to attack. He just wants your mind to be so clouded, so occupied with other things, that you cannot serve God. It doesn't really matter if it seems like you're serving God - the devil doesn't care about what it "seems like." He just wants to make you far from God.

I'm calling for self examination. A thorough scan of our entire being; leave nothing unturned. We can sit in church every Sunday and sing and clap, and maybe occasionally dance, but if we're just going through the motions, it's not really worth it.

If we're just singing just to sing, lifting our hands because it's the right time to, or shouting when the preacher says to shout, then it's not really worth it. God wants a relationship with us. He sees beyond our show and He really wants us to take on that struggle and press beyond the show. Just like the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years who literally crawled through the crowd to just barely touch the hem of Jesus' garment. Just like the sick man who was brought by his friends through the roof to see Jesus because the front door was crowded. God is calling for us to push beyond the noise and the routine and to seek Him with our whole heart.

 Jeremiah 29:13 says, And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. You have to give your all. God is not hiding away somewhere far away. There's no tricky puzzle that you need to solve to meet Him. You just have to seek Him. You have to want Him so badly that you won't let anyone get in the way of you finding him. And, if that means clearing your mind of school, the bills, and the job for a while, that's what you have to do. If that means closing your eyes and tuning out the distractions, then that's what you have to do. If that means forgetting about what people may think of you, then that is what you have to do.

Your mind has to be at the place for you to truly worship God, withholding nothing. When Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman, he told her that the time has come for true worshipers. It is difficult to be a true worshiper when your mind is racing with thoughts of all of your issues and struggles. Leave them at the door and let God take care of them. Truly, if your mind is captured, you're captured. So protect your mind.

Crush the Idols

 

Anything I put before my God is an idol. - Jimmy Needham

  We all know of when the children of Israel, frustrated that they couldn't see their God, decided that they needed a god they could touch and feel instead. They told Moses to create a "Golden Calf" to be their god. Countless times they have fallen from grace and have absorbed themselves in idolatry. They wanted what the surrounding nations had - the customs, the practices and the idols.

  But, before we point fingers, we should assess what an idol actually is. In it's simplest form it may be an image, such as the golden calf, that one sets up before himself to worship. But, it's more than that. Anything I put before my God is an idol. Anything that I love so much that it distracts me from my purpose in God is an idol. Anything that takes up the time that I should be spending with God is an idol. Anything that causes me to compromise my faith just so that I can have it is an idol.

   So, that girl or that guy that you can't stop thinking about can be an idol. That job that prevents you from going to church and giving God the glory. Or maybe that car that you think is too beautiful for anyone to even touch. The truth is that anything that arrests your mind is an idol.

   Have you ever wanted to pray and all that comes out of your mouth is the routine prayer? You follow the protocol and you pray how you're expected to pray but you never really tell God anything.  And when you say amen and you get up off your knees you get up with the same problem that you went to pray about in the first place.

  It's time to be real and open with God. We pray for material blessings: money, good grades, success.  And while we pray our fake prayer, our souls are dying. It's rotting from all the junk and dirt that we've filled it with. All the hurt and pain, the guilt and the shame. We can't really share our pain because we know that all we'll get in return is fake smiles and secret judgment. So we carry our pain. We carry all the weight and the shame and we stray further and further away from God.

 We sing the songs, read the scripture and listen to the sermon. Yet we go back home with the same pressing issue. We're still dying and nobody knows and it seems like nobody cares. Just moved but never changed.

   The truth is that God already knows what you're going to ask even before you ask it. He knows what you need. And it may seem difficult, you may not even want to utter it for fear of someone else hearing, but He wants you to tell it to Him. He wants you to lay it at his feet and leave it there. You don't carry yourself, He carries you.

    So, you may be overwhelmed with countless pain and you feel that God does not understand. But the apostle Paul reminds us that our High Priest can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He not only understands your pain, He feels your pain.

   You may be distracted from your purpose in God right now but don't feel that you have to stay that way. Countless times the people of God have turned away from Him and when they returned, as with the prodigal son, their father welcomed them with open arms.

    I'm not just speaking to those who have backslidden and left the church. I'm speaking to everyone, including myself. It's so easy to look the part - dress the right way, sing the right way and testify the right way. Do all of that and you can fool just anyone, but not God. So you may be reading this and thinking of your unsaved or backslidden friend, but understand that it is time for all of us to return.

  The truth is that we all have an idol or two. We all have something that takes our undivided attention away from God. And it weighs us down. But God is calling us to a place of reflection. It is time for us to shine the searchlights in every corner and every crevice of our being. It's time for us to look into ourselves: our thoughts, our actions, our speech. It's time to crush the idols.